If
you are in the audio industry, you are one with Pro Tools. That is just how it is. If you have been keeping up with Pro Tools,
then you are well aware that Avid is releasing the next installment in the Pro
Tools line up: Pro Tools 11.

I
always thought that Pro Tools 9 was a huge jump forward, but Avid took it even
a step further after 10. Dare I say:
they turned up to eleven? There are
plenty of changes this time around. Some
I am looking forward to, some I am not.
Now I will say that since I am on a budget, the latest Pro Tools I have
is PT9, and I like most things about it.

One
of the best things about Pro Tools in general is the substantial amount of
plugins that are available for it. Well,
we can now say goodbye to the tried and true RTAS and TDM plugins, and we can
say hello to the new AAX plugins. The
main reason Slow Tools is getting rid of these famed plugins, is the fact that
PT11 will
finally be running in 64 bit, and the old plugins are running in 32. Now it did take Avid a while to get Pro Tools
into the world of 64, but hey, perfection takes time right? It has been said that many third party plugin
companies will offer AAX upgrades for free or at “a reasonable cost”.

The
thing that I am most looking forward to is offline bouncing. Finally!
I use Apple’s Logic Pro quite a bit because I feel it is better at MIDI
then Pro Tools is. Needless to say, it
is great to press “Command B”, pick a location, and it’s done. With Pro Tools, you can bounce the audio, but
you have to wait the duration of the audio, and listen to it. Another quality pass never hurts, but
sometimes it can be inconvenient. (Side
note: I personally like to mix everything down to a new track and export the
region as a file). Thank you Avid for
finally getting an offline bounce in place!

Avid
says that there will be new metering options.
I looked at a picture on their website and counted fifteen different
options. Yes, fifteen. I am willing to bet that someone will still
probably not have the option that he or she wants. Either way, you definitely can pick whatever
you fancy with all of the options available.
Sadly, it seems these will only be available in PT HD 11.

PT11
also seems to have a built in video engine that allows you to work with HD
video directly in Pro Tools.

There
are some down sides though. Again, you
won’t be able to use all of the RTAS and TDM plugins that you already invested
thousands of dollars into over the years.
Older Avid hardware (pretty much anything that is not HD hardware) “could
work (but will be untested/unsupported) and some will not work (incompatible).” Kiss the Complete Toolkit goodbye with your
old hardware and plugins, because if you want more tracks, you have to get a HD
system. And too top it all off, Pro
Tools 11 is expensive because this a “major upgrade” according to Avid.

Pro
Tools 11 does sound temping, but I, being on a budget, will not be running out
to get it any time soon. I would however
like to get my hands on it as soon as possible to play with it a little
bit. Either way, time will tell if it’s
a good platform or not. Are you planning
on getting Pro Tools 11?